"Come on, Harry, it's not that hard!" Celosia exclaimed a few weeks later. Hermione and Ron began to live with the Weasleys again, the Grangers joining them as there was the potential that everyone was still in danger. The only ones living in the house was Harry, Celosia and Severus.

"Not hard?" Harry repeated. "It makes no sense!"

"Surely you've known about the Fidelius Charm, several homes you've been to are under it!"

"Is this one?"

"No, and that's besides the point." Celosia groaned, sitting back in her chair. Harry sat across from her at the wooden table, his Charms text placed out in front of him. "Surely Albus has mentioned it a few times?"

"Yeah but I don't really pay attention." Harry muttered.

"I've explained it over a thousand times." She groaned, staring up at the ceiling.

"You were right, you're a horrible teacher." Harry confessed and smirked.

"Believe it or not, Celosia had always over-explained her Charms essays." Severus commented as he walked into the area, heading towards the kitchen and manually grabbing a jug of milk from the fridge. "If you wanted a good graduating mark in Charms, Potter, I am more than capable of teaching you such."

"You're a Potions Master, sir." Harry said.

"And I taught you Defense, did I not?" Severus raised a brow, pouring a bit of milk into a mug before reaching over to the coffee pot on the counter. "Believe it or not Potter, to become a teacher at Hogwarts you require high grades in all core subjects. Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts are also related heavily to Herbology and Charms, which branches out to Transfigurations and such. Do I need to go on?"

"No but sir, you need a wand to teach me, right?" Harry argued. "And since we can't risk you using magic because of the potions still in your system, you can't really teach me properly, can you?"

"I can teach you better than Celosia." Severus smirked and Celosia rolled her eyes. "She may have been a Ravenclaw but she can't teach to save her life."

"She did a pretty good job with Occlumency." Harry frowned, memories of his fifth year drifting back to him. He quickly dismissed the thoughts, turning to his aunt.

"There was never a class on Occlumency." She muttered. "I could teach you Muggle science, how to cook, how to drive, and so on much better than I could a Hogwarts subject."

"You can teach me how to drive then?" Harry exclaimed, Celosia surprised at the sudden question. Severus rolled his eyes.

"Now Potter are you going to stop being stubborn and let me teach you properly? You still want to be an Auror, don't you?"

"Alright then Professor." Harry nodded, turning back to the man.

"Really, I thought we were on a first name basis in this house." Celosia put in.

"He is my student and I am his teacher, just like it always has been." Severus sneered.

"Yes but you could at least call him Harry or Mr. Potter if that suits you. This isn't an official school, you don't see me asking Harry to call me 'Professor Dilaurentis'."

"The name doesn't suit." Severus merely said, sipping at his coffee. Celosia rolled her eyes and turned away, wondering if there was any hidden meaning behind those words. Did he not like the fact that she was under her deceased husband's last name? She had already forgiven him for that. Would going back to being an Evans make him happier?

"Really I have no problem with him calling me 'Potter'." Harry said, trying to put his aunt at ease. "In fact, I'd prefer it. It'd be just weird if he called me 'Harry'."

The boy shrugged at that idea. Celosia had wanted them to become like a family and deep down Harry knew that the possibility of Snape becoming his uncle through marriage was very likely. They were basically like an illegal family right now, but Harry couldn't do that. He hated the man up until he saw the Pensieve memories and although he knew Severus only treated him like dirt was because of James, he still couldn't forgive him fully for that.

"Shall we get started then, Professor?" Harry spoke up, breaking out of his thoughts.

"Tomorrow." Severus merely said. "It seems Celosia's useless methods have driven you to exhaustion and frankly I am not in the mood to teach you anything at present."

"That's his polite and complicated way of saying he's tired." Celosia said simply, Severus scowling. "Why else do you think he's drinking coffee at six in the afternoon? We should be having dinner."

"Can we go out tonight?" Harry suggested. "You know, like to one of those Muggle family restaurants?"

"You may have gotten all the Death Eaters into Azkaban but it isn't completely safe." Celosia said sternly. "We will go out to eat when the time is right, once we receive word from the others that the coast is clear. Plus you wouldn't want your possible fans to be harassing you at a restaurant, right?"

"That's why we go to a Muggle one. And we'll have to get used to it." Harry said. "I mean, if you plan on making me live here, you should adopt me. Then when you and Professor Snape get married, I guess we'd always go out like this and have to get used to my fame."

"Harry." Celosia interrupted him. "What makes you think Severus and I are going to get married?"

Severus slammed his mug onto the counter, the hot liquid splashing out and hitting his hand. He ignored the burn and glared. "Are you implying I am an unfit husband?"

"No, not at all." Celosia glared in his direction. "He is simply misguided. Harry, Severus and I are not getting married anytime soon."

"Oh don't give me that bull." Harry stood up. "Do you think I begged McGonagall to save his life just because I liked him? Up until I saw his memories I detested him just as much as he has me! I saved him for you, I knew you cared for him so much. And the feeling is mutual, why else would you two be sneaking around during the breaks and having eye sex from across the room?"

"I think you should go upstairs and brush up on your potions, Potter." Severus said between gritted teeth, his eyes glued to Celosia. "We will be covering that up tomorrow. For someone your age I'm surprised your big mouth hasn't changed."

"Don't be criticizing him like that." Celosia defended. Harry took the cue and grabbed his book, walking up the stairs. Moments passed before they heard a door click shut and Severus spoke.

"And what is this, that we are not going to get married anytime soon?"

"Did you think we were then?" Celosia exclaimed, standing up.

"Not immediately, but-"

"We may have been in love for all this time but we have been through too much." She interrupted him. "We hated each other just as equally and I'm not going to rush into a marriage just because Voldemort is dead!"

"This has to do with that Dilarentis, doesn't it?" Severus scowled. "You probably rushed into your first marriage and lost him so fast that you're afraid of that happening again."

"You killed him!" She screeched out, tears threatening to fall out of her eyes. "I didn't rush!"

"Like you said, we've known each other ever since we were little children." Severus said, his tone calmer. "We fell in love long before you met Alexandre, and this is not you rushing. We waited for so long! I'm not going to leave you; no one is going to want me dead, pretty much all the Death Eaters are in Azkaban!"

"You'll find a way." Celosia muttered, a few tears escaping her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, brushing at her cheeks. Everyone she had loved had left her; her parents, Lily, Andre, her child, even Petunia. "They always leave me. You've left me countless times!"

"With reason." He walked towards her, standing in front of her with his hands holding her arms. "Those reasons are gone. Voldemort is gone. I'm here to stay, you know that."

Celosia looked up into his black eyes, seeing genuine trust and love in them. She saw that look so many times and knew he wouldn't leave again. "Ok." She whispered and leaned up to brush her lips against his. "But I don't want to get married. Not yet, nothing too serious. I just want us to enjoy ourselves for the time being, focus on Harry's education and getting settled and comfortable with each other."

"I understand." He nodded and she smiled, turning around and walking up the stairs.

"The process of brewing Felix Felicis requires precise timing and correct ingredient requirements." Severus explained over a large bubbling cauldron in the kitchen. Harry stood on the other side of it across from him, his potions book out in front of him.

"I don't suppose you made adjustments to your seventh year book too, sir?" Harry asked casually as he carefully chopped up the next ingredient.

"I did not." Severus answered, looking down at Harry. "I was aware afterwards that you had access to my book. Where did you put it, may I ask?"

"Room of Requirement." Harry answered, stirring the potion slowly three times. "No one will find it, I'm sure. It's impossible to find anything specific in there, especially now. I'm sure the fire burned most of the room down."

Severus nodded, surprised to hear that there had been a fire in the Room of Requirement. Harry must have been there for him to know about it. If he sounded so casual talking about the fire, there may have been even worse things from the Battle that Severus wasn't aware of. His curiosity got the best of him and Severus cleared his throat. "How exactly did you defeat the Dark Lord?"

"Call him Voldemort, sir, please." Harry insisted. "He isn't the Dark Lord anymore."

"Indeed." He nodded. "Avada Kedavra I presume?"

"No." Harry shook his head, flicking his wand at the potion so a small red spark from the tip fell into the liquid. "Expelliarmus, like always."

"How were you able to overpower Avada Kedavra with Expelliarmus? If I remember correctly, he had the Elder Wand."

"But you didn't die, did you?" Harry noted and looked up at him. "He wanted to kill you because he thought you were the master of the Elder Wand, but you weren't. You only killed Dumbledore that night, but Malfoy was the one who disarmed him."

"So Draco is the master." Severus said.

Harry shook his head, turning back to the potion and dropping a few scales in. "I disarmed Draco back in the winter. So really,"

"The wand is yours." Severus finished.

"Was." The boy nodded, stirring the potion and pointing his wand at the timer on the oven, timing down three minutes. "I destroyed it."

"Why would you do something so foolish?"

"Wizards all over the world would want that wand to rule." Harry said in an obvious tone. "We don't need another wizarding war on our hands."

"That is something you might regret, Potter."

"No, I don't think so." Harry shrugged and set his arms down on the table, wiping at the sweat forming at his brow.

Severus leaned over the potion, taking the ladle and taking out a small sample, staring at it before setting it back in. "Good but not perfect. Try again and this time try crushing instead of cutting- you know that method of mine does wonders. You'll get the hang of it soon."